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SCHOOL LAW. 



AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER NINETY, LAWS OF 
SEVENTY-TWO AND SEVENTY-THREE 



Section 1. 77ie General Assembly of North Carolina do 
enact : That all acts unless new regulation heretofore 
adopted by the State Board of Education in relation to free 
public schools be, and the same are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 2. That sections thirty of chapter ninety of the laws 
of 1872-3, be amended by adding after the words "of each 
county," in line sixteen, the words, "and furnish the County 
Treasurer with the amounts thus apportioned among the 
several school districts, and the amount that each district 
is entitled to." 

Sec. 3. That the words "July" in section thirty-eight, of" 
chapter ninety, public laws of 1872-3, be stricken out, and 
"October" inserted therefor. 

Sec. 4. This act shall be in force from and after its 
ratification. In General Assembly read three times, and 
ratified the 12th day of February, A. D. 1874. 

The rules and regulations which were repealed by this . 
act, provide substantially as follows : 

That each school district shall contain an area equal to 
from four to seven miles square. 

That the school districts shall be as nearly square in form 
as the convenience of neighborhoods and the situation of the 
several localities will permit. 

That the school house shall be as near the centre of the^ 
school population of the district as practicable. 



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That the people of each district shall elect three suitable 
persons district trustees, each race electing its own trustees. 

That the District Trustees shall solicit contributions to 
pay half the cost of building, repairing and furnishing the 
school house, and to supplement the school money due the 
District; determine the time at which the public school 
shall begin ; recommend a Teacher who will be acceptable to 
the people of the District, and assist the school committee 
in all matters relating to the district school. 

These rules and regulations having been repealed by the 
General Assembly cannot be r-e-enacted by the State Board 
of Education. As they relate, however, to the practical 
workings of the school system, they are published as a gen- 
■eral guide to school committees and county school officers 
;so far as they may see fit to adopt and apply them. They 
•ai-e not, however, of any binding obligation. 

The rule which is excepted by the words, " unless new 
regulation " in the repealing act, and which therefore re- 
mains in force, was adopted Jan. 15th, 1874, and is as 

follows : 

" The law intends that the highest prices, to wit : $20, $30 
and |40, a month according to the grade of the teacher, 
shall be paid only for schools in which twenty or more pu- 
pils are taught. If the number of pupils is less than twenty, 
the highest prices which may be paid out of the Public 
School Funds are : To a teacher who holds a third grade 
certificate one dollar a month for each pupil ; to a teacher 
who holds a second grade certificate one dollar and a half a 
month for each pupil ; to a teacher who holds a first grade 
certificate two dollars a month for each pupil, counting th^ 
number of pupils in all cases by their average attendance. 

THE COUNTY BOAED OF EDUCATION. 

By the Constitution of the State the County Commission- 
ers who constitute the tlounty Boards of Education, have 



supervision and control of the public schools in their respec- 
tive counties. 

SCHOOL FUNDS. 

The law appropriates^ annually seventy -five per cent, of 
the entire State and county capitation taxes, a property tax 
of eight and one-third cents on the hundred dollars worth 
of all the property and credits, in the State, all taxes on 
auctioneers and licenses to retail spirituous liquors and the 
income from the permanent school fund for the support and 
maintenance of free public schools. 

If this money is properly and economically applied, it 
will be sufficient to maintain a free public school from two 
to three months each year in every school district in the 
State. If along with any balance which may remain in the 
hands of the County Treasurer, it shall be insufficient to 
maintain schools four months, the law makes it the duty of 
the County Commissioners to levy annually a special tax to 
suppl}^ the deficiency. The question of the levy and collec- 
tion of such additional school tax, however, must be sub- 
mitted to the vote of the electors of the county. If in any 
county the vote shall be against the additional tax, the only 
school fund in such county will be that whjeh the law has 
absolutely provided as above mentioned. 

GUARD THE SCHOOL MONEY. 

In the administration of three hundred thousand dollars 

annually in four thousand school districts, it will be neces- 

arv to guard the money. The County Board of Education 

may dopt and carry out any one or all of the following 

rules, or o ^ers which may occur to them : 

That no or., ^' for school money shall be paid, until it is 
approved and sign ' by the Chairman and Secretary of the 
County Board of Educj>Icn. 



That the school money shall in no case be apportioned to 
any township, or paid upon the order of any school com- 
mittee until the school census of the township is taken and 
reported as required by law. 

That the public schools shall not be taught at a season of 
the year when laboring children cannot be spared from the 
farm. 

The County Board of Education may recommend the 
school committees to pay |15, |20, $25 or $30, a month, or 
any other price or prices within the limits prescribed by 
law, for the public schools in their county. If in any in- 
stance the rule adopted by the State Board of Education, 
January 15th, 1874, regulating the pay of the teacher in 
part by the average attendance of pupils is found to work a 
hardship, or to interfere with the success of the school, the 
County Board of Education may modify the rule, to some 
extent, so as to meet the full justice and equity of such case. 

COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

The County Board of Education and the Board of Exami- 
ners of each county are respectfully, but earnestly recom- 
mended to call an educational convention in their county 
and organi?€ a'permanent educational association. 

The State Educational Association which was permanently 
organized in July, 1873, adopted a resolution recommending 
that County Educational Associations be organized. The 
educational interests of the State should be fully represented 
and fostered by appropriate county and State associations. 

SCHOOL COMMITTEES. 

The following sections of the school law now ^\. force, are 
published for the information of school .ommittees and 
others. For convenience the section: are rearranged and 



numbered in order from the beginning. The corresponding 
sections may be found in the law. 

Sec. 1. In each township there shall be biennially elected 
by the qualified voters thereof a school committee of three 
persons, whose duties shall be as prescribed in this act. If 
there should at any time be a failure to elect school com- 
mitteemen in any township, or if a vacancy should at any 
time occur, it shall be the duty of the County Board of 
Education to appoint suitable residents of the townships to 
fill the vacancy, and the persons thus appointed shall exer- 
cise all the powers and duties of a school committee until 
their successors are elected and qualified. 

Sec. 2. The school committee of each township shall be 
a body corporate by the name and style of "The School 

Committee of Township , in the county of ," 

as the case may be, and in that name shall be capable of 
purchasing and holding real and personal estate, and of 
selling and transferring the same for school purposes, and 
of prosecuting and defending suits for and against the cor- 
poration. All conveyances to school committees shall be to 
them and their successors in office. 

Sec. 3. The school committee of each township, within 
fifteen days after their election or appointment, shall meet 
at some convenient point within the township, and organize 
by electing one of their number chairman, and another of 
their number clerk of the school committee. 

Sec. 4. The school committee shall be exempt from mili- 
tary duty, from working the public roads, and from serving 
on juries, and shall receive no other compensation for their 
services. Before entering upon the duties of their office 
they shall take an oath before a Justice of the Peace for the 
faithful discharge of the duties of that office. 

Sec. 5. The form of oath to be taken by every school 
committeeman before entering upon the duties of the office 
shall be in the following words : "I, A. B., do swear (or 
affirm) that I will well and truly execute the office of school 



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committeeman according to the best of my skill and ability- 
according to law : so help me God." 

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the school committee of 
each township to take and return to the County Board of 
Education on or before the first day of August in every year 
a full and accurate census of the children between the ages 
of six and twenty-one years, giving the nurhber in public 
schools, and the number who attend no school, designating 
the race and sex in all cases. They shall also report the 
number of public school houses and the number of private 
school houses, and the number of academies and colleges in 
each township. 

Sec. 7. The school committee of the several townships 
sh^ll lay off their respective townships into convenient 
school districts, consulting, as far as practicable, the conve- 
nience of the neighborhood, and the wishes of persons in- 
terested, and disregarding the township boundaries where 
convenience require it. They shall designate the districts 
by number, as school district No. 1, school district No. 2, 

&c., of township , as the case may be : Provided, 

That where a district lies in two or more townships 

it shall be designated as a school district No. 

of the township in which the school house is situated ; and 
the commissioners of adjoining counties 'shall have power 
in case of great inconvenience to arrange for the sending of 
pupils to school across the lines of such counties and pro- 
vide for their payment from the fund of their school district. 
If the pupils of any public school reside in different town- 
ships, the school committes of each shall give an order to 
the teacher for such part of the amount due him as is pro- 
portionate to the number of pupils attending his school from 
their township. 

Sec. 8. The school committee shall consult the conveni- 
ence of the white residents in settling the boundaries of 
districts for white schools, and of colored residents in settling 
the boundaries for colored schools. The schools of the two 



races shall be separate ; thfe districts the same or not, accord- 
ing to the convenience of the parties concerned. In cases 
where there are two sets of districts in a township they shall 
be designated as school districts numbers one, two, three, 
etc., for white schools, or school districts, numbers one, two, 
three, etc., for colored schools, as the case may be, of town- 
ship of etc., as before stated. 

Sec. 9. The school committee may receive any gift, grant, 
donation or devise made for the use of any school or schools 
within their jurisdiction, and in their corporate capacity 
they shall be and are hereby entrusted with the care and 
custody of all school houses, school house sites, grounds, 
books, apparatus, or other public school property belonging 
to their respective jurisdiction, with full power to control 
the same as they may deem best for the interest of the pub- 
lic schools, and the cause of education. When, in the opin- 
ion of the committee, any school house, school house sites, 
or other public school property has become unnecessary for 
public school purposes, they shall return the land to the 
original owner, his heirs or assigns, if he or they so desire 
on the payment of first cost, and remove or sell the building 
after advertisement for twenty days at three public places 
in the townships. The deed for the property thus sold shall 
be executed by the chairman and clerk of the committee, 
and proceeds of the sale shall be paid to the township Treas- 
urer for the school expenses in the township. 

Sec. 10. The school committee may receive suitable sites 
for school houses by donation or purchase. In the latter 
case they shall report the price to the Chairman and Secre- 
tary of the County Board of Education. If the latter are 
satisfied that the price is not excessive they shall approve 
the order of the committee on the County Treasurer, which 
said committee are hereby authorized to give for the pur- 
chase money in favor of the grantor of the land, and upon 
payment of the order the title to said site shall vest in the 
committee and their successors in office. Whenever the 



committee are unable to obtain a suitable site for a school 
by gift or purchase, they shall report to the County Com- 
missioners, and the latter shall thereupon appoint three 
disinterested citizens, who shall lay off not more than one 
acre, and assess the cash value thereof, and report their 
proceedings to the County Commissioners. If said report 
is confirmed by the commissioners, the Chairman and 
Secretary of the Board of Education for the county shall 
approve the order which the township school committee 
shall give on the County Treasurer in favor of the owner of 
the land thus laid oflF, and upon payment or offer of pay- 
ment of this order, the title to said land shall vest in the 
school committee and their successors in office : Provided, 
Thaj; improved land shall not be condemned under the 
provisions of this section; and provided further, That any 
person aggrieved by the action of said commissioners, may 
appeal to the Superior Court of the county in which said 
land is situate, upon giving bond to secure said commis- 
sioners against such costs as they maj^ incur on account of 
said appeal not being prosecuted with effect. 

Sec. 11. Every school to which aid shall be given under 
the provisions of this act shall be a public school, to which 
children between the ages of six and twenty-one years shall 
be admitted free of any charge, subject to the restrictions 
contained in section twenty. 

Sec. 12. The school committee shall have the authority 
to employ and dismiss teachers of the schools within their 
townships, and shall determine the pay per month to be 
paid the same: Provided, however. That teachers of the first 
grade shall not receive out of the school fund more than 
two dollars per day; of the second grade not more than 
one dollar and fifty cents per day; and of the third grade 
not more than one dollar per day, but no teacher shall 
receive any compensation for a less term than one month. 
No committeeman shall be a teacher. Nor shall any com- 



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mitteeman in any way be interested by contract or otherwise 
in the erection or repairing of any school house in his 
district. 

TEACHERS. 

Sec. 13. It shall be the duty of all teachers of free public 
schools to maintain good order and discipline in their 
respective schools, to encourage morality, industry and 
neatness in all their pupils, and to teach thoroughly all 
branches which they profess to teach. If anj pupil should 
wilfully and persistently violate the rules of school, such 
pupil may be dismissed by the teacher for the current term . 

Sec. 14. That the State board of education may recom- 
mend the course of study to be pursued, the text books and 
other means of instruction to be used in the public schools : 
Provided, That no sectarian or political text books or influ- 
ences shall be used in any public school. 

Note. — Teachers should hold frequent educational meet- 
ings in the district school house ; interest the people of the 
district in the education of their children and the support 
and maintenance of public schools ; acquaint themselves 
fully with the school law and explain it to the people, and 
hold teachers' institutes for their own improvement in 
teaching. 

Sec. 15. Every teacher or principal of a school to which 
aid shall be given under the provisions of this act, shall 
keep a daily record of all absences of pupils and of the grade 
in scholarship and department of each. The grade in schol- 
arship shall be indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; 1 
representing the highest or first grade, and 5 the lowest, and 
the three intermediate numbers the three intermediate 
grades. The grades in deportment shall be represented by 
the same numbers and in the same order. At the end of 
every term every teacher of a public school shall deliver to 
the county Treasurer a statement of the length of the term 



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of the school, of the race, number, sex and average atten- 
dance of pupils, and the name of the district and township 
in which the school was taught. 

Sec. 16. At the middle and end of every four months' 
term of a public school, the teacher or principal of the school 
shall exhibit to the school committee of the township a 
statement of ihe number of pupils, their average attendance, 
the length of the term and the time taught. He shall also 
exhibit a teacher's certificate, dated within one year of the 
time. If the committee are satisfied that the provisions Qf 
this act are complied with, they shall give an order on the 
County Treasurer, payable to the teacher for the sum due 
his school for the time taught. But they shall in no case 
give such an order unless the teacher produce a certificate of 
merital and moral qualifications from the board of exami- 
ners, dated within one year of the time. 

Sec. 17. The County Board of Education of every county 
shall, on the first Mondaj^ of February of each year, or as 
soon thereafter as practicable, apportion among the several 
townships in the county, according to the number of chil- 
dren in each between the ages of six and twenty-one years, 
(which number shall be ascertained by a census to be taken 
by the school committee and reported to the County Board 
of Education,) all school funds which may then be in the 
possession of or due to the County Treasurer, specifying how 
much thereof is apportioned to the children of each race, 
and give notice thereof to the school committees of the 
several townships of the county. And the school committees 
in the several townships shall apportion the same in like 
manner among the several school districts, and publish the 
same by an advertisement posted on the court house door of 
each county and furnish the County Treasurer with the 
amounts thus apportioned among the several school districts, 
and the amount that each district is entitled to. The sums 
thus apportioned to the several townships shall be subject to 
the orders of the school committees thereof for payment of 



11 



the school expenses mentioned in the next section of this 
act: Provided, however, That in no case shall the school 
fund thus apportioned to either race be expended for the 
education of the otlier race : And provided further, That so 
much of said school fund as shall not be expended in any 
school district for the education of the race for which it was 
apportioned in any year, shall be added to the final appor- 
tionment to said race in said school districts for the succeed- 
ing year. 

Sec. 18. All orders upon the County Treasurer for school 
money for the payment of teachers, for the purchase of sites 
for school houses, and for half the cost of building, repairing 
and furnishing school houses, shall be signed by the school 
committee of the township in which the school is taught or 
in which the site or school house is situated, which orders, 
duly indorsed by the persons to whom the same are payable, 
shall be the only valid vouchers in the hands of County 
Treasurers for disbursements of school money. 

Sec. 19. Every person who shall wilfully interrupt or 
disturb any public or private school, or any meeting lawfully 
and peaceably held for the purpose of literary or scientific 
improvement, either within or without the place where such 
school or meeting is held, or injure an}'' school building, or 
deface any school furniture, apparatus or other school 
property, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on convic- 
tion thereof, shall be fined not exceeding one hundred 
dollars, at the discretion of the court. 

Sec. 20. The school year shall begin July first, and end 
June thirtieth. 

SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

The law requires that "the school committees shall lay 
ofi" their respective townships into convenient school districts, 
consulting as far as practicable, the convenience of the 
neighborhood and disregarding township boundaries where 



LofC. 



12 

convenience requires it." The school districts should be 
made as large as practicable. Where they are very small, 
two or more should be thrown together, to make one good 
district. The- school house should be as near the centre of 
the school population of the district as practicable. The 
money apportioned to each district should be paid for the 
school taught in that district and no other. The children 
of each district are entitled by law to attend only the school 
of their own district free of charge. Where the township is 
not too large it should be adopted as the school district, 
with only one school for each race. In districts which 
contain a large number of children, two or more teachers 
may be employed in the same school, and graded schools 
may t^e established for the support of which assistance may 
be obtained from the Peabod}^ Education Fund. If a school 
district is to include parts of two or more townships, the 
school committees of the several townships interested shall 
agree upon the boundary, or if they fail to agree, they shall 
report the facts to the County Board of Education, and the 
latter shall establish the district. All matters of controversy 
relating to the public schools must be referred to the County 
Board of Education. 

SCHOOL CENSUS. 

The County Board of Education cannot apportion the 
school money till the census of school children is taken and 
reported to them. The school committees should therefore 
be prompt and accurate in taking and reporting the census. 
The law requires the school committees to "report the 
amounts of money apportioned among the several school 
districts." This requirement of the law will be substantially 
complied with, if the school committee will report an accurate 
census of each school district of the township. The County 
Board of Education may then apportion the school money 
directly among the several districts in the county. This 



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would be in compliance with the law. When a district lies 
partly in two or more townships, it should be called district 

No. , of the township in which the school house is 

situated. The census of such district should be given by 
the school committee of the township in which the school 
house is situated, and should state the number of children 
within the district who reside in the different townships. 

The clerk of, the school committee should register in the 
book of school records of the township, an accurate census 
of each school district of the township as follows : Under the 
head of "school district No. , for white, or colored chil- 
dren," as the case may be, write the names of each head of a 
family, resident in the school district, in a column on the 
left hand side of the page. On the same horizontal line 
with each name thus written, enter the number of children 
between the ages of six and twenty-one years in two columns; 
in the first column enter the number of males ; in the second 
the number of females. This record of the census of each 
school district should at all times be open to inspection by 
all residents of the township, so that any error it may con- 
tain may be corrected. 

DISTRICT SCHOOL MONEY. 

The school money which is apportioned to each district 
belongs to the people of the district for the support and 
maintenance of a free public school for the education of their 
children. The State does not go into the school district and 
establish a school without any effort on the part of the peo- 
ple of the district. It rather aids the people to establish 
their own school. Free public schools will not rise up and 
grow of themselves without any effort on the part of the 
people. If the people of a district want a public school, they 
must exert themselves, and establish, maintain and support 
it. Otherwise the district school money will be virtually 
wasted. 



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If in any school district the people prefer that the district 
trustees shall continue to aid the school committee in 
matters pertaining to the district school, there will be no 
impropriety in their doing so, and the school committee in 
every such case should respect the district trustees as the 
representatives of the people of the district. If the people 
of any district should prefer not to have district trustees, of 
course those heretofore appointed will cease to act, and no 
others will be appointed in their place. 

THE PAY OF THE TEACHERS. 
f 

Thelaw fixes the highest limits of prices and leaves it 
with the school committee to determine the pay of the 
teacher within those limits. The school committee should 
respect any recommendation which the County Board of 
Education may make; and each school committee for itself 
may determine that they will pay $15, $20, $25 or $30 a 
month, or any other price within the limits prescribed by 
law as the price or prices of teaching within the township. 
The school committee should in no case permit the public 
schools to be taught at seasons of the year when laboring 
children cannot be spared from the farm. 

ALEX. McIVER, 
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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